'Common' Sense? ..... yeah, right
Click on the title and you'll see something that really distresses me. Dictionary.com refers to "good sense" and "common Sense" as synonyms; I beg to differ.
Now, I surrender to the point 'Dictionary.com is by no means an authority on the english language', but that's not what's important. Good sense is used to address issues, problems, or events you may not be familiar with, but just need to 'figure out', or 'get through te day'. Now that being said, good sense is by no means 'common', and this is why I think 'common sense' should be removed from the dictionary. I refer you to my previous post from long ago Can People Outgrow Stupid?, although I don't go in to much detail, I feel I make a pretty good case that dumb people are too dumb to smarten up. I suppose I could suggest this is also why 'Common Sense' is so uncommon, but I don't think it is.
People don't use good sense because they are lazy. Using sound judgment in a matter you don't know much about seems like a bit of work. You have to analyze what you're looking at, what you need or want, try to understand or apply a few basic principles, and then act acordingly. Is it just me, or do people just have a tendency to throw their hands up in the air and say "I don't know, I can't do this" the moment they approach something that either takes 3 minutes of effort to address, or isn't done for them instantly. And this day in age we have services for everything, people feel it's their right to have things done for them.
I really don't think you need to be smart to at least attempt doing something for yourself.
EXAMPLE
Have you ever changed a car tire? If no, please give this a quick read. It's not rocket science... yes it is a bit of work, but if you do approach it logically, each step makes sense, and if you use good sense, you should be able to at least make it to the dealership. and wouldn't that be more satisfying than standing 'helplessly' on the side of the road waiting for a kind, capable passerby?
If you didn't try using judgemnet or good sense to figure things out, how will you ever become more capable, or even more intelligent?
posted by Huma @ 15:12
2 Comments:
I guess it is so open to interpretation and you are right – it goes back to can stupid people make smart choices?? I was sitting at a meeting where we were discussing the “safe place” policy necessary for care givers, Sunday school workers etc. at our church. Someone threw out “well as long as you use common sense” in a way that meant – MAKE SMART CHOICES. One of the gentleman took considerable offense to this as he worked in the prison system and his take on it was that common sense for you and me was not even remotely close to common sense for the cons he worked with. I think that would rank right up there with "average" or "normal" behaviour - who's to say whats normal or average????
I've got nothing. Just felt like commenting, which is difficult when you have nothing good to add.
Do do do....
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